Five Best Ways To Treat Inguinal Hernia Without Surgery
Are you looking for ways to treat inguinal hernia without surgery? Well, you’re not the only one. Since I have been writing this blog and making videos for my youtube channel, I have been asked by a lot of people how I manage my hernia on a day-to-day basis without having to get surgery. So I figured I would write a post about it and let you know the five most important things I do to manage inguinal hernia without surgery. I will summarize them quickly below, then elaborate in the following paragraphs.
Remember, this is not medical advice, but only the things that I do in order to manage my hernia day to day without having to get surgery.
How to Treat Inguinal Hernia Without Surgery
- Wear a hernia belt
- Hold it with your hand when coughing, sneezing, or straining
- Walk lightly on your feet
- Stay away from foods that inflame the intestines
- Do exercises to strengthen the inner and outer obliques and transverse abdominals
Wear a Hernia Belt
Wearing a hernia belt is probably the most important way to treat inguinal hernia without surgery. You may know that I have developed a hernia belt that I use every day. For me, I wasn’t able to find one that I could wear comfortably during all the activities that I like to do, and still have the confidence to go all out without holding back. So I had to design one for myself. It might be for sale by the time you read this. I’m not saying that you have to buy the one that I designed, but you have to find one that fits your lifestyle. One that you can wear every day, all day, without having to worry about the hernia popping out on you.
I can’t stress to you enough how important I think this is. If the hernia is allowed to keep pushing through the hole in the inguinal canal, it will continue to get worse and worse until eventually it will push down into your scrotum and become irreducible. Once that happens I don’t believe that there will be anything you can do but get hernia surgery. Find one that you can wear from the time you get out of bed to the time you go to sleep. Only take it off when you are in the shower.
Hold It With Your Hand When Coughing or Straining
Personally, even though I wear the hernia belt all day every day, I still like to hold the hernia with my hand any time I cough, sneeze, poop, and sometimes when I laugh really hard. The most important would probably be when pooping. Not only do I hold the side that my hernia’s on, but I hold the other side too. I’ve talked to too many guys who got their hernia from straining while on the toilet. It’s better to be safe than sorry. I would hate to protect the side that already has the hernia, and end up having one pop out on the other side.
Walk Lightly on Your Feet
This might sound weird, but it really is very important. Especially if you’re on your feet a lot. Think about the constant pounding that happens every time you slam your heels down on the ground when walking. It’s like you are hammering your intestine down into the hole where the hernia is. Anything you can do to mitigate the pounding will help. I walk barefoot 95% of the time for this reason. You will walk much softer barefoot than with shoes on. If I do need to wear shoes I wear Vans or something with flat soles. Any shoe that doesn’t have a lot of padding. I also try to walk in a way that is not heal-toe. I sort of put my whole foot on the ground at the same time (almost toe-heal) which makes for a much softer step.
Stay Away From Foods That Inflame The Intestine
This is another very important way to treat inguinal hernia without surgery. I do not eat gluten because it is very inflammatory for the intestine. I feel bloated and tired when I eat it. If it is inflammatory to the intestine, it is causing inter-abdominal pressure. This is not good if your intestine is already trying to push through the weakness in the inguinal canal. I also stay away from sugar since it is inflammatory as well. Sometimes, I eat a small amount of chicken, but I’m almost vegetarian. I noticed that when I eat meat I feel more pressure on the hernia.
When trying to treat inguinal hernia without surgery, diet plays a huge role. The problem is that reactions to certain foods are vastly different from person to person. What works for me, might be different than what works for you. The key is to experiment to see which foods are working for you or against you. You can do this by eliminating a certain food that you might think is causing gas, bloating, or constipation for 30 days. Then, after 30 days, consume the food again to see if it causes an adverse effect. If it does, then it would probably be a good idea to eliminate that food item from your diet.
Do Exercises to Strengthen the Inner and Outer Obliques and Transverse Abdominals
I have an exercise regimen that I’ve been doing to treat inguinal hernia without surgery that you can see by going to my youtube channel. I found these exercises in a medical journal from way back in 1915. The osteopathic doctor who wrote it used this exercise regimen with his patients to heal inguinal hernias. It does a really good job of tightening up the muscles that are used to hold the hernia in place. I also do a few easy yoga breathing exercises that I think make a world of difference. They work to tighten up the transverse abs. Those are the muscles that are directly around the hole in the inguinal canal where the hernia comes out. My thinking is that if I can tighten these muscles up, they will work to hold the intestine in place, and not let it slip through the canal.
Since I have been doing these exercises I have noticed a huge change in how much the hernia pokes out, and how often I feel pressure in the area.
More Thoughts on How To Treat Inguinal Hernia Without Surgery
I think that one of the most important things to mention is that if you follow these five things, and still feel like you can’t manage the hernia without surgery, KEEP TRYING. These things have worked for me over the past few years, but everyone is different. There might be a few small tweaks you have to make to be able to have a high quality of life without getting the surgery. If your mind is absolutely set that you do not want to get surgery, just keep at it. Eventually, you will figure out exactly what you have to do to manage it. It took me a few years to get to the point where I am now, but hopefully, by posting this, I can help you get there a lot sooner. Good Luck!
Update 9/2022 –
Since originally writing this post I was able to get my hernia to be 100% asymptomatic. There is no pressure, no lump, and I do not need to wear a hernia belt any longer. The way I did this was to keep the hernia pushed in at all times when I was awake by using the hernia belt that I designed. Also I was able to reverse what I found to be the root causes of an inguinal hernia.
I put a plan in place to:
- Fix my pelvic posture
- Increase mobility in the hips
- Strengthen the muscles around the inguinal canal
- Consume a diet which does not cause excess gas, bloating, or constipation
- Learned to deal with tension caused by unconscious repressed emotions such as anger.
Once I was able to do this, I was able to become symptom free. I hope this helps on your journey to treat inguinal hernia without surgery!
Hurricane Irma Screwed Up My Healing | Update 9/22/17
Hernia Progress Update 9/22/2017
My thoughts are with anyone affected by the recent hurricane events. Stay Strong!
My Inguinal Hernia Is Almost Healed Naturally
In this video update I talk about what I’ve been doing to heal my inguinal hernia without surgery. It has gone from being the size of two golf balls next to each other, to the size of an M&M.
Don’t forget to leave a comment! I love hearing from you guys about what you’re doing to cure your hernia. Also make sure you give me a like on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter so that you don’t miss out on any of the content that I post.
Diet For Curing Inguinal Hernia
In this video I talk about eating meat while trying to cure my hernia, and doing an exercise plan that was used in the early 1900’s by an osteopathic doctor to heal inguinal hernias.
Set Back On The Road To Healing- Exercises – Update 8/4/17
A Small Setback
Last week after I made the last update, I was doing some exercises while working out and felt a little pull right in the area where the hernia is located. I was doing push-up to rows as shown below with too much weight and pushed it a little too hard. I should have stopped after I felt the first one, but since I am in the “I’m not holding back!” mode, I kept trying, which was a mistake.
After that, I was feeling the pressure of the hernia and saw it pop out a little more than normal for about three days. But for the last 2 or three days, it has been fine and feels back to where I was before. I haven’t been feeling any pressure at all, and have not seen the hernia pop out any time I check it. I’ve been keeping the hernia belt on still all day from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed.
Anterior Pelvic Tilt
I’m still doing my yoga exercises, and have also added in some mobility exercises. I’ve come to realize that there are exercises that I can do to overcome my anterior pelvic tilt (pictured). For some reason, I always thought that this was just the way I was built, and that there was nothing I could do about it.
This is the reason I have been walking around on the balls of my feet. Because when I do, it causes my glutes to fire, my pelvis to rotate under and be more even, which pulls up and tightens my abs. But if I can gain mobility in my hip flexors by doing exercises, then I wouldn’t have to walk around on my toes because my pelvis would be sitting in the correct position to have everything working together the way it should.
Mobility Exercises
Here are some of the mobility exercises I’ve been doing to hit the hip flexors to take care of the Anterior pelvic tilt:
I have been doing these for a few days now, and I can already feel my pelvis starting to rotate into the correct position.
I’ve also been working on the correct standing position as shown i the following video since this is where it is most difficult to keep control of the anterior pelvic tilt:
Still Feeling Positive
Even though I’ve had a little setback, I’m still feeling good about where I’m headed since I’ve been working on these other things that have been wrong with my body my entire life. Had it not been for this hernia I would’ve never even started looking into this. I would be in pain and lacking mobility, which would ultimately lead to being able to do less of what I want to do.
Until next time! If you have any questions or comments let me know!
Do You Have What It Takes?
Healing your hernia holistically. Do you have what it takes?
In this video I talk about the mindset that I believe is critical to healing your inguinal hernia holistically without surgery. Once I grasped the idea of the mind body connection all the effort that I was making toward healing just clicked. Within three weeks I have lessened the size of my hernia by 90%. It won’t be long before I am completely healed.
There are a few other things at play with the progress that I am making on top of the mind body connection that you can read about here.
The Book
I read a book called Healing Back Pain, The Mind Body Connection. This book made me realize how important it really is to have the right mindset as you go through the journey of healing your hernia. It absolutely helped me beat the terrible back pain that I have had since I was 18 years old. The book does not only apply to back pain though. It covers all types of different body pain like migraines, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and more. It doesn’t specifically talk about hernias, but it would be a good read anyway to get a better understanding of the mind body connection, and how real it is. I truly believe that this is a large aspect of why we get hernias in the first place.
Commitment
I’ve been talking to a lot of people lately. A lot of whom wish to heal their hernia naturally, but have not been 100% committed to do what is necessary in order to heal. They are stuck wondering why nothing is working, and are constantly thinking in the back of their heads that they will probably end up getting surgery in the end. But, let me ask you this…Have you ever reached a goal that you couldn’t see yourself reaching in your mind? Most likely not. Usually if you can’t see it in your mind, you don’t do it because you won’t be able to map out the steps necessary to bring what is in your imagination to reality.
Once you make the true commitment to healing naturally, you can get the thought of possible surgery out of your mind. This will make way for you to imagine yourself reaching your goal. You can then focus on formulating a solid plan on how to get there. Most likely it will be a long, hard journey. You will probably have to work through a lot of other stuff that is wrong with your body before you can even focus your attention on the hernia. Maybe things you didn’t even realize you have been letting hold you back. You might have to lose some weight, or stop overeating, or get some mobility back, who knows.
My Experience
This is what I’ve been working through for the past couple years. Back pain, joint pain, mobility issues, etc. But now that I am through it I literally have not felt this good since I was in high school. I almost feel like I needed this hernia in order to get myself back on the right track. Not only physically on the right track, but mentally as well. I have been pounding my body for years. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but trying to get in the best shape I can. All the while I was wearing out my joints, losing mobility, and gaining a hernia.
Without COMMITMENT, I would have given up a long time ago and missed out on the whole learning experience. I can’t wait to look back one day at this experience and say “Hell yea, I did it!”. I will end feeling better in my forties and fifties than I did in my twenties and thirties.
Healing My Hernia Status Update 7/25/2017
My Natural Hernia Cure Update 7/25/2017
Usually, as soon as I wake up I put on the hernia belt so that it doesn’t have a chance to pop out. I feel like this is an essential part of healing. On this morning however I didn’t put it on. The first thing I did was the yoga exercises that I have been doing to heal the hernia. I had some work to do around the house, so after I was done with the exercises, I cleaned the pool, and did everything I needed to do. Nothing too strenuous, like heavy lifting or anything like that, but just steady moving around.
My wife and I decided that we were going to go food shopping, and to run some other errands, so I brought the hernia belt with me just in case. We were out all day going from store to store. We stopped to eat lunch, which really worried me, because the weight of the food in my stomach would really make the hernia bulge out in the past. But, surprisingly there was nothing! No bulge at all. There was a tiny bit of pressure, but it was a different kind of pressure than what I was feeling before. It feels like the hernia pushing on the inside of the muscle. It’s hard to describe.
My wife was laughing at me all day because I kept sticking my hand in my waste band to check if the hernia was bulging out. I probably looked a little weird, but whatever. I was like the honey badger, and didn’t give a shit. (click here if you don’t know about the honey badger)
By the time we got home it was about 6:30 pm. I was starting to get really nervous that the hernia was going to start popping out, so I decided that I wasn’t going to chance it anymore. I went ahead and put the hernia belt on since I still had to mow the lawn, and do a couple other things around the house. I’ve never realized how much comfort I get mentally from wearing the hernia belt every day. Just being able to do things and not worry so much about it popping out.
All in all it was great for me to see how far I’ve come in such a short amount of time. 1 month ago I would have never been able to even think about not wearing the belt, because as soon as I would get out of bed I would have a lump the size of two golf balls stacked on top of each other.
I’m not sure if I could have made it the full day or not without wearing the hernia belt. I just didn’t want to chance it popping out and setting me back. That’s why I decided to put it on.
I can’t tell you how exciting it is to look down in the shower and not see that lump! I’m making really good progress and will keep you updated as I get further along.
Healing My Hernia Status Update 7/24/2017
Video update for 7/24/2017
Really excited about how much progress I’ve made in healing my hernia. To read about the things I’ve been doing to help along the process you can click here. Let me know if you guys have any questions or comments!